Going against the flow: fun photos show a surreal side of Hong Kong

When Hongkonger Tommy Fung returned after three decades living in Venezuela, he thought the city was oddly unhappy. So he decided to offer views from a different angle

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One of Fung’s images, which shows a panda creating havoc in Wan Chai. Photo: Handout

Published: 2:02pm, 19 Aug 2017Updated: 2:02pm, 19 Aug 2017

A Hong Kong artist whose innovative photographs of the city’s major landmarks and everyday scenes have become an online hit said he only started the project to “cheer Hong Kong people up”.

Tommy Fung has used Photoshop to adapt hit shots of sites including the IFC, the Big Buddha and the Star Ferry, often giving them a distinctive reinvention.

His Instagram series @SurrealHK has quickly amassed almost 10,000 followers since he launched it last year, with fans lapping up his imaginative images each month.

The 38-year-old Hongkonger, who lives in Ap Lei Chau, returned to the city seeking new opportunities after almost three decades living with his Chinese family in Venezuela. Fung said he felt forced to leave the South American country after a deteriorating economy and a political impasse sparked widespread protests in 2014, which are still causing chaos. “I still have family there, and they are surviving, but it is very hard,” he said.

As Fung became reacquainted with Hong Kong, where he went to school until he was nine years old, the former graphic designer began taking photographs of the city’s most notable sites.

“I saw people seemed really unhappy,” he said. “I didn’t know why because I think Hong Kong is a really great city.